WOMEN REFUGEES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 227, 24 September 1940, Page 10

WOMEN REFUGEES.

ZIONIST RELIEF SCHEME. MARKET FOR EMBROIDERY. A scheme which has been the means of relieving great hardship among middle-aged Western women refugees who have never had to earn their living has been started in Palestine by the Women's International Zionist organisation. The conditions of the Oriental Jews in the poverty-stricken quarters of Palestine first aroused the interest of the organisation. These Eastern women hud a real talent for embroidery, and it was felt that if their skill were properly directed it could be developed into a real home industry. From this arose the first "Shani" organisation, which hae gained a world-wide reputation for its beautiful embroidery and handicrafts. The Shani shops now employ hundreds of Yemenite Jews, and are to be found in all the large towns in Palestine. It was from this that the Zionist organisation determined to start similar organisations to assist Western women refugees. Many of them, even if they were very comfortably off, are skilled in all kinds of needlework, and handicrafts, and their skill is now being turned to account. Co-operative shops are l»eing opened, where they can find a market for their work, which includes embroidery, woollies, toys, hand-woven fabrics, pottery and even confectionery. All the articles sold by both Western and Eastern women are made in their own homes} in the spare time that is not needed for looking after their homes and children, or after a day's work which may be their only mean's of livelihood. The Yemenite woman mav do her embroidery after a day's charing, the Western woman may 'make lace when she has finished a translation job for someone else.—("The Country Woman.")